Justice News

Broward County Resident Sentenced to 292 Months in Prison for Sex Trafficking of a Minor

Leon Roberts was sentenced by United States District Judge James I. Cohn to 292 months in prison, to be followed by 25 years of supervised release for sex trafficking a minor.

Benjamin G. Greenberg, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Timothy R. Langan, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office, made the announcement.

The trial evidence showed that the defendant Leon Roberts, 27, of Ft. Lauderdale, convinced a 14-year-old girl into staying with him and his girlfriend, C.A., at the Crosslands Hotel. Once in his hotel room, he pressured the 14-year-old to prostitute for him for a two month period. The minor (victim) claimed to be 19 years old, but C.A. believed that she was significantly younger.

On June 22, 2016, C.A. and the minor were fed up with Roberts and left the hotel to go stay with a friend for the night. Upon returning back to the hotel in the morning, Roberts was furious at C.A. for taking the minor away for the night. The disagreement escalated to the point where Roberts called the police to report his girlfriend was pimping out the minor. When the police arrived the minor disclosed that Roberts was her pimp. Roberts was arrested after the minor’s Backpage ads were found going back to his email address. The jury found Roberts guilty after three hours of deliberation.

Mr. Greenberg commended the investigative efforts of the FBI. This case was prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney M. Catherine Koontz.